I might be opening a can of worms here,but have noticed a few auctions lately where the seller has stipulated a "time lag" clause in their auction to subvert snipe bidding. Snipe bidding is one of my pet hates And the reason why I have not bid on any SS auctions ,till now.If that trend continues I would bid..and perhaps auction. It is the most direct route to price discovery,I think This is not eBay,after all. Thoughts?
Put in the maximum amount you are willing to pay. If you are out bidded, then it's not the price you want anyway. I don't see an issue with snipers.
i did it once and never again as I made an honest mistake and some people here dont let you forget it.
I'm with you about the snipe bidding. Apparently there are programs that you can set up to bid in the last 5 seconds. And on Stackers you can't post a second post without 15 seconds (?) elapsing it leaves it open to the snip bid. With any auction I run (i prefer buy it now but...) the auction ends if there is more than 30 seconds between bids at the end of the auction. If someone bids and bidder two bids 12 seconds later that 30 second time lapse starts again. I think this is much fairer
Isn't it up to the seller? Maybe they could add a pre-auction "PM best offers" for those who want to buy and have a max price, but don't want to participate in time-extended auctions? It would starting getting a bit complex though.
You had me at the first line...the snipe programs are a scourge. I think snipers are more engaged in the game ,than the item. One more notch on the totem pole...perhaps
I love Sniping! I have a program which will send in a bid in the last 5 seconds. Benefits include... Not getting into bidding wars with other bidders Not having to hang around until the end of an auction, which if it is overseas then it could be early, late or during working hours. Before I got the software I really liked the Yahoo auctions which would add another five minutes onto an auction if anyone bid in the last minute. This was back in the day when sniping was manual and you had numerous windows open one counting down the time (you had to hit refresh) and one set up with your bid, ready to go! Usually if you just miss out you would chuck on another bid really quickly. I have never really tried to win an auction on SS, last time was about 50 minutes before the end and I couldn't be bothered to work out which time zone the auction was in. I was expecting a snipe bid but nothing happened. But for eBay, if you aren't using sniping software then you really aren't trying, if you want to buy something at the best price get the software, if you want to enjoy the auction then go to a live auction.
To me, if it is set at a 10pm finish then that is it. If you hang back and put in a bid at the last moment then good on you if you win it. Using time lapse you may as well ask for offers.
I am pretty sure I've beaten snipe bidding on ebay, I bid one bid higher than the snipe, wait for it to hit and load in another bid two higher. Granted, I have to be online to do it but if I want it bad enough, no problem.
hate snipers and much prefer the bidding extension, makes fairer on all and usually a better price for sellers. i have also done my fair share of sniping, great feeling when you pull it off
Okie Dokie..the straw poll seems to be coming out fairly even. Snipers versus bid your best and walk away. Would a fair auction model be a "no time limit " thing where the auction was terminated when the seller was offered their best/or failed to reach a reserve? As long as the auction started at a reasonable price level . eg: spot.. No pm bids ...nothing private ...price discovery is the goal Although as Belvedere wrote ...offers would be just as good in this case,except for the public fun I have also seen a couple of reverse auctions. Any thoughts on those? Other than they are fun to watch?
Exactly. Better for sellers. Another version is where an auction is run with undisclosed bidding. It means that bidding wars dont happen. People bid the highest that they are prepared to pay. It actually is pretty fair.
I don't mind the bidding extension. As a bidder you obviously don't want to overpay, yet at the same time you don't want to be sniped. This lets incremental bidding in its best form run its course, more like a live auction really.
If you beat them then either they are doing it wrong or you bid over the max they were willing to pay. If anyone wins an Ebay auction on me its because they bid more then I was willing to pay. I snipe all my items on Ebay. It leads to much lower prices. If an item is at $50 and I place my max bid of $75 an hour before the auction ends even if I'm the highest bidder at the time it gives people an hour to decide"am I willing to pay more" and they keep on doing single bids up and over my $75 max bid. However if the auction is at $50 and I place my max bid of $75 dollars in the last 5 seconds it leaves no time. If the last persons max bid was under $75 then I will come out ontop by one bid, if thier max was over $75 then I will lose but I wasn't willing to pay over that anyways so I lost nothing. However sniping on forum auctions seems kinda wierd because you can't set up a max bid. On Ebay you can place a max bid of $100 and still win an item for $10.
On eBay I always snipe, else all you do is show everybody your hand and they sneak up and outbid you by some stupid little margin - they are not serious buyers, I am. For snipe bids I always work out just how much I'm willing to pay for the item and that is the bid. The amount is no different, just the timing. I never bitch if someone outsnipes my snipes since it simply means they wanted it more than I did. However, I do dislike sneaky bastards ..... Here on SS I've played in auctions with specific limits and one with a one-minute delay - love em' - and yes it's a game of who's going to blink first. The idea of an auction from buyer point is to get the item for a minimum and for the seller, a maximum. I'm not fussed what the terms of the auction are, as long as they are clearly spelt out and adhered to. Then it's up to buyer and seller to reach a common dollar point. Done! I did mess up on one auction here on SS - didn't realise the others had started a new page without me - dumb!!!
